Prairie - Alumni Magazine (v1. i1)

our inaugural issue

Why an alumni magazine and why now? p01

prairie’s vision

Turning a vision for a school into reality. p06

reunion weekend preview

An overview of the upcoming weekend-long celebration. p10

ALUMNI MAGAZINE

50 YEARS OF CREATING LEADERS

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1

Contents —

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letter from the head of school

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special section: 50th anniversary

02 04 06 10

Timeline: 1965-2015 Prairie School Improvements Prairie’s Genesis 2015 Alumni Reunion Alumni Weekend Preview RAM Art Exhibition Back by Popular Demand: Those Cinnamon Rolls

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prairie profiles

16 18 20

25

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class notes

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we remember

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the last word

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Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal ’91 Gabbi Ortiz ’14 Featured Faculty: David Drewek Featured Faculty: Pat Badger Dr. Todd Hoeksema ’74

ON THE COVER: Sandra Harrison Young ‘70

Letter from the Head of School A WELCOME TO ALUMNI — Dear The Prairie School Alumni, It is truly an honor to be the new head of school at Prairie and to introduce you to our new publication. As we celebrate our school’s 50th year, and in honor of our 1,800 alumni, we are launching Prairie magazine to bring our alumni from all over the world together to celebrate our collective accomplishments. It is often said that the mark of a truly great independent school is the mark its alumni make on the world.

It is our goal to produce two issues a year to share with our entire community the wide array of accomplishments of our alumni.

“I am eager to help create new generations of alumni who leave our nest and soar.”

It is our hope that this magazine will be an important step in connecting our alumni as a more deliberate community and creating opportunities for social interaction, collaboration, networking and philanthropic support of the school. Additional future steps will include a formal mentoring network and more social opportunities online and in person. The largest alumni social event the school has ever hosted is coming this June.

Please see page 10 for more details and join us for our Alumni Reunion Weekend!

Within the past few years, both the E.E. Ford Foundation and the Malone Foundation have recognized The Prairie School as a national leader in independent education and awarded significant grants to support our school. This support is a direct result of your leadership in communities and professions around the world. Our studentcentered approach that emphasizes the development of outstanding communication and problem-solving skills has empowered our alumni to be leaders in industry, science, medicine, design, the practice of law, the arts, not-for-profits, media, government, technology, education and entrepreneurship.

As the youngest of our nation’s top independent schools without any alumni over the age of 65, the future of Prairie and our alumni is bright. As the school’s fifth head of school, I am truly honored to have joined the community in this historic year and I am eager to help create new generations of alumni who leave our nest and soar. I hope in the years and issues to come you will stay in touch and enjoy this magazine.

Sincerely,

Nathaniel Coffman, Ed. D. Head of School

Timeline: 1965-2015 50 YEARS OF THE PRAIRIE SCHOOL

Johnson’s idea for The Prairie School is born

1964 John H. “Jack” Mitchell, first headmaster, hired

1965 September 13, opening day 1969 Upper School added; Dining

Room opened; Art Center & Design Studio built

1970 H.F. Johnson Fieldhouse opens 1971 Integrated day curriculum

introduced in Primary School; Prairie joined the Independent School Association of Central States (ISACS) and gained accreditation

1972 Interim program started in Upper School

1973 Alumni Association created 1975 School fire 1978 Anthony B. Fruhauf, second headmaster, hired

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1980s

1963 Willie Hilpert and Gene

1970s

1960s

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1980 D edication of Jack Mitchell Theatre

1983 Gene Johnson becomes first

Board Chair; International Baccalaureate program created

1984 J ames Van Hoven, third headmaster, hired

1985 Prairie’s 20th Anniversary 1986 Advanced Placement curriculum added

1988 Glassblowing studio built

1993 Wm. Mark H. Murphy, fourth headmaster, hired; Fieldhouse remodeled and expanded

1994 Outdoor Education/Leadership program introduced

2005 Johnson Athletic Center

dedicated; Fieldhouse renovated; Tennis courts added

2006 Second E.E. Ford Foundation Grant awarded

2010s

dedication and groundbreaking; 25th Anniversary

2000s

1990s

1990 Student Research Center

2010 Th ird E.E. Ford Foundation Grant awarded; Center for Developing Excellence summer program created

2011 Malone Family Foundation

Grant awarded; Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) Academy opened to Prairie and Racine community

1995 Samuel C. Johnson Upper

2013 J ack Mitchell

1997 Inaugural Prairie Golf Classic

2014 R uud Family Soccer Complex

School built

1998 Premiere gala auction

started; first Edward E. Ford Foundation Grant awarded

Theatre renovated

dedication; Nathaniel Coffman, fifth head of school, hired; Original science classrooms and labs renovated; Founder’s Day celebration; 50th Anniversary yearlong commemoration initiated

Prairie School Improvements

IMAGINE-INSPIRE-TRANSFORM CAMPAIGN DOES JUST THAT —

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he Prairie School is sporting a new look. Thanks to a successful capital campaign, recent projects have transformed and given new life to the school’s academic, arts, sciences and athletics facilities, both aesthetically and functionally.

The school worked for more than a year on the ImagineInspire-Transform capital campaign, which raised $4.5 million. The generosity of members of our community allowed several projects to be completed.

BROOKWOOD STAGE After framing Prairie’s Performing Arts program for 33 years, the theater was ready for an upgrade. The updated space boasts new seating, handicap-accessible seating, a new sound system and LED lighting.

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DAVIES POWER SCIENCE WING, BATTEN FAMILY SCIENCE CLASSROOM & TWIN DISC SCIENCE CLASSROOM Prairie’s four science laboratories were recently redesigned and reconstructed to meet modern educational needs. The new facilities will support and propel student studies and reinforce Prairie’s regional reputation for academic excellence.

The improvements will also allow the school to expand upon its robotics curriculum as well as serve a wide range of learning in the Upper School.

THE MADRIGRANO FAMILY FOYER Prairie has a beautiful new foyer to welcome the community into the school. The enlarged space was completed in August 2013 and includes a waiting area for students, parents and visitors. In addition, roof repairs were made to the building.

THE RUUD FAMILY SOCCER COMPLEX & OSIECKI FIELD Prairie now has a soccer facility that matches its outstanding soccer program. The new Ruud Family Soccer Complex was completed just before the start of the 2014 fall soccer season and has given our home field the type of features that are on par with those used by professional, college and elite high school programs.

The complex includes the Osiecki Soccer Field – a FIFA 2 artificial turf field – as well as two portable team enclosures, expanded seating in new stands, a portable scoreboard, fencing and LED lighting.

During the school day, the new field supports educationbased athletics while expanding opportunities for daily physical education classes.

Prairie’s Genesis

HOW VISION BECAME A REALITY —

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hen Mrs. F.M. “Willie” Hilpert and Mrs. Imogene “Gene” Powers Johnson joined forces to start a school in December 1963, all they had was a vision, borne of a passion for innovation, education and nurturing children.The friends and mothers wanted their children, and other children in the community, to be able to attend a school that was willing to try new things and meet the needs of each individual student, including those who were non-traditional learners.

“From the very beginning, we wanted Prairie to be a school that would bring out the best in every child,” says Gene, who is The Prairie School’s board chairwoman. “To be a place where children are inspired to learn, and where they thrive as individuals. A place filled with young people who care about each other and about making the world a better place.”

Their dream was to create a college preparatory school that would instill in students a love of learning and a desire to be the best they can be; feature a student-centered educational philosophy and approach; foster high academic standards to promote individual and collective achievement; encompass a holistic, multi-disciplinary curriculum; and provide an inspiring, creative learning environment for students and teachers alike.

“From the very beginning, we wanted Prairie to be a school that would bring out the best in every child, to be a place where children are inspired to learn, and where they thrive as individuals. A place filled with young people who care about each other and about making the world a better place.”

– gene johnson

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PUTTING THINGS IN MOTION With a goal of opening in time for the 1965 school year, the first step was to sell the idea to Gene’s husband, Sam — and perhaps more importantly, to his father, Racinebased SCJ Corporation’s chairman emeritus H.F. Johnson. Thanks to Gene’s persuasive powers, the elder Johnson enthusiastically embraced the idea and helped secure the support and funding needed to begin the hunt for a headmaster and faculty members.

For Sam, it took a little more convincing.

But with her father-in-law on board with the idea, Gene and Willie recruited John H. “Jack” Mitchell, from a school in Yarmouth, Maine, to be the first headmaster.

Mitchell joined the founders to plan curriculum, recruit teachers, and conduct interviews with prospective students and their families. “Jack was absolutely perfect to have as our first headmaster,” Gene recalls. “He built a great relationship with the school and the community.”

Early founders and administrators of The Prairie School set out to create a college prep school, focused on a love for learning, from the very beginning.

DESIGNING THE CAMPUS It was H.F. Johnson who came up with the school’s name, which is a nod to the naturally occurring prairies of the Midwest, as well as to the architectural style known as Prairie School.

Frank Lloyd Wright was a huge proponent of this style, illustrated by horizontal lines to evoke the native landscape — and his architectural firm, Taliesin Associated Architects, was hired to design the school’s campus.

The plans for a permanent campus were continually being revised, thanks to overwhelming support from prospective families that sent enrollment numbers soaring. As enrollment grew, so did facility plans and estimated building costs.

In fact, the local building that had been purchased to house the school while the permanent campus was being planned and constructed was outgrown before the first school year had even begun.

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“We went back to Taliesin and they came up with another plan — the design idea of a circle, starting with a build-out of the first half-circle,” Gene says. “They said it could be built within 90 days, in time for our opening day of school in September.”

That circle design — which has also been used in subsequent phases of additions — has come to represent and symbolize Prairie’s mission to protect, nurture and encourage students to explore and strengthen their whole selves.

Read one of our beloved teacher’s perspectives about the school’s circle design, beginning on page 22 of this magazine.

THE DOORS FINALLY OPEN As Gene fondly recalls, Sam claimed he’d “eat his hat” if the building was ready on time for the start of the 1965 school year. Prairie welcomed 84 students in first through seventh grades for its first official day of class on Sept. 13, 1965 — much to the relief of the staff and parents who had helped to set up furniture and deal with other lastminute concerns the night before.

“On the day it opened, we had a hat-shaped cake for Sam,” Gene says.

Since that day, the school has continued to expand to its current range of grades — preschool through fourth grades in the Primary School, fifth through eighth grades in the Middle School, and ninth through 12th grades in the Upper School.

FOUNDERS, FAMILIES, STAFF DESERVE THANKS The growth and success of Prairie can also be attributed in great part to the “founding families” who had enough confidence in the founders’ vision to entrust their children’s education to the upstart school.

The school’s great rise would not have been possible without the founders, whose vision was realized and embraced thanks to incredible amounts of hard work from those founding families. Additionally, a huge thanks is owed to the teachers, staff, donors and benefactors who believed in — and helped advance — the school’s vision, educational philosophy and commitment to putting students first.

According to current Head of School, Dr. Nathaniel Coffman, perhaps the one who deserves the most significant acknowledgement is Gene, who continues to champion and support her vision. Without her confidence, persuasiveness and steadfast faith in her team’s ability to make Prairie a reality, the lives of thousands of students, faculty, staff and supporters would be very different today.

In her 50th anniversary remarks on Sept. 8, 2014, Gene summarized it best herself by saying, “The Prairie School is here today, at the start of our 50th school year, because of headmasters who cared, teachers and staff who cared, parents who believed and cared, and a community who cared and supported us all these years. We embark on the next 50 years because of so many who have cared about children and supported our dreams and hopes for the school.”

Alumni Reunion Weekend 2015

SOCIALIZE AND CELEBRATE: A TOAST TO 50 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE

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oin your fellow classmates from The Prairie School in celebrating 50 years of academic, arts, athletic and community achievements at Alumni Reunion Weekend. This year’s activities will be held June 4-7, 2015. No matter when you graduated, you won’t want to miss reconnecting with old friends — while making new ones — during a weekend of socializing, reminiscing, feasting, dancing and more! Mark your calendars for the following must-attend events.

THURSDAY, JUNE 4 | 6-8 PM

SATURDAY, JUNE 6 | 10-11 AM

Cocktail Reception at Racine Art Museum You are invited to view Kindred Collecting, a one-of-akind exhibition representing an atypical parallel in the contemporary craft art collections of the Racine Art Museum and The Prairie School. This is art, history and collaboration at its best!

Brunch Extravaganza on Campus Come back to campus for mimosas and a brunch extravaganza featuring the fabulous and famously delicious cinnamon rolls you remember.

Pieces from the groundbreaking collection and exhibition, Objects: USA, which toured the country in the late 1960s, are featured and David Drewek, faculty emeritus, will also be on hand.

Alumni Soccer Game at Osiecki Field Try out our new FIFA 2 Turf and experience soccer like your favorite pro players!

FRIDAY, JUNE 5 | 2-4 PM Step Back into the Classroom Participate in class favorites, such as glassblowing with faculty favorite, David Drewek. Join in a “50 Years of Prairie” presentation with Pat Badger, Cathy Marbach and current students. Attend a keynote on “Prairie’s Place in the Global Education Debate,” by Head of School Dr. Nat Coffman.

FRIDAY, JUNE 5 | 6-8 PM Friday Social & Live Music – The Red Onion Cafe Get your groove on with Prairie alumni Scott Johnson ’81, Rolf Windh ’83, Luke Patterson ’12 and Thomas Earnest ’12.

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SATURDAY, JUNE 6 | 11 AM TO NOON

SATURDAY, JUNE 6 | NOON TO 1:30 PM Family Picnic on Campus Bring your spouse and kids to gather around the barbeque with friends and exchange stories about your days at Prairie over classic picnic fare.

SATURDAY, JUNE 6 | 6:30-9 PM All-Alumni Reception & 50th Celebration Come to Fortaleza Hall at SC Johnson to join your fellow alumni and past and present Prairie faculty members in a formal celebration of 50 remarkable years at Prairie. The evening will include festive cocktails, delicious hors d’oeuvres, live music and honored alumni.

To learn more about weekend accommodations, or to register for Alumni Reunion Weekend events, visit prairieschool.com/alumni.

A NOTE FROM THE ALUMNI COUNCIL — Hello Alumni, The Prairie School is turning 50 and there’s a lot happening in conjunction with this milestone.

As you can see, we’ve launched a new alumni magazine to further our goal of reconnecting you with each other and with the school. I’m most excited about Alumni Reunion Weekend, which is set for June 4 to 7. This reunion will be bigger and better than ever, including some fun surprises (think two words: cinnamon rolls!)

Throughout the weekend, you will have many chances to celebrate.

Events include: • Opening reception from 6 p.m to 8 p.m. Thursday June 4 at the Racine Art Museum, which currently has on display some of Prairie’s artwork.

• An alumni-based music social event beginning at 6 p.m. on June 5.

• Alumni soccer game and picnic on June 6, following mimosas and of course cinnamon rolls, at 10 a.m.

• Alumni reception to honor Harold Swanson, Dave Drewek, Dick Zimmermann, Terry Chapko and Kristin Neubauer on Saturday evening from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Also that night, we’ll have live music featuring Dominic Miller ’78.

I encourage you to try and fit the weekend into your busy schedule. It will be a great chance to see the school and reconnect with friends. You can get more information and sign up at the alumni section of Prairie’s website.

I’ll be looking for you next month. Please stop me and say hello.

Sincerely,

Richard R. Ruffo ’83 Alumni Council President

CONNECT VIRTUALLY OR AT ONE OF OUR GET-TOGETHERS If you can’t make it back for Alumni Reunion Weekend June 4 to 7, there are other opportunities to reconnect. The Prairie School Alumni Council has hosted several very successful get-togethers, where alumni from different decades have gotten to know one another.

Regional gatherings were held in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. We will continue these gatherings in the future and hopefully add more venues.

There are other great ways to keep in touch with the school and longlost classmates, too.

Connect, share and converse by joining The Prairie School Alumni Group on Facebook Get updates and submit your accomplishments with the Update Your Information form in the Alumni Section at prairieschool.com Send recent news or share stories directly with Alumni Director, Jan Hagopian, at jhagopian@prairieschool.com

RAM Art Exhibition

KINDRED COLLECTING FEATURES PRAIRIE ART COLLECTION

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n celebration of The Prairie School’s rich history of commitment to the arts, the Racine Art Museum (RAM) is currently showing Kindred Collecting: Exploring the Artworks of The Prairie School and RAM. This one-of-a-kind exhibition combines RAM’s contemporary art with pieces from Prairie’s art collection.

The exhibition is a dialogue between work from Prairie’s collection and pieces from RAM by the same artist or an artist working in a similar manner or with some other type of relationship to the Prairie collection. “It is the first presentation of well-known craft artists and those connected to our region, in this combination, by these two institutions,” notes Bruce Pepich, RAM’s executive director and curator of collections.

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OBJECTS: USA LED TO APPRECIATION OF CRAFT MEDIA Prairie’s contribution includes pieces from Objects: USA, a traveling exhibition of artwork that was assembled by SC Johnson in the 1960s. The exhibition featured works created in craft media, including ceramics, fibers, glass, metals, plastics and wood, and toured many major art museums across the United States. For many institutions, it was the first time this type of artwork was displayed in their galleries.

“Objects: USA was considered a watershed moment in 20th-century craft history because in the three decades that followed the tour, museums started to exhibit and collect these works in a more serious and respectful manner,” Pepich says.

A GENEROUS DONATION EXPOSES STUDENTS TO HIGH-QUALITY ART After the tour, SC Johnson presented several Objects: USA pieces to art museums that had hosted the traveling exhibition. SC Johnson also donated a portion of the collection to Prairie, so select pieces are displayed around the school so students can enjoy the high-quality, creative works each day.

“We wanted to call attention to Prairie on the occasion of its 50th anniversary,” Pepich says. “The school’s program of surrounding its students with artwork to inspire creativity fits squarely within RAM’s commitment to lifelong learning and creative problem solving. We hope to demonstrate how Prairie students study in an environment filled with museum-quality works.”

The pieces featured in the RAM exhibition were selected after a visit to Prairie School.

“We developed a checklist of works we hoped to borrow, already thinking about works from RAM’s collection that we could pull as complements for the exhibition,” says Lena Vigna, curator of exhibitions at the museum. “Every choice was carefully orchestrated in relation to others.

We want each work to speak for itself but also encourage visitors to look for comparisons and contrasts.”

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BEST IN SHOW Although Racine Art Museum Curator of Exhibitions Lena Vigna believes every piece in the Kindred Collecting exhibition is a standout, she recommends paying special attention to a few pieces from Prairie that have not been seen in several years as they are not easy to display.

“Harvey Littleton’s hanging chandelier of glass rods [A] and the very groovy fiberglass door [B]

by Ruth Radakovich have a lot of presence,” she says. “And then there are RAM’s Wendell Castle desk of mahogany of silver leaf and Helen Bitar’s quilt. Each of these pieces represents artists combining thought and motivation with craftsmanship in a way that hadn’t been done much in the past.”

View Kindred Collecting at the Racine Art Museum during Prairie School’s Alumni Reunion Weekend and 50th Anniversary Celebration. To learn more about the weekend events, or to RSVP, visit prairieschool.com/alumni.

“Objects: USA was considered a watershed moment in 20th century craft history because in the three decades that followed the tour, museums started to exhibit and collect these works in a more serious and respectful manner.”

– bruce pepich, ram executive director

Back by Popular Demand

CINNAMON ROLL HISTORY LEADS TO SWEET MEMORIES

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sk most people about their school meals growing up, and they’ll provide a lukewarm review at best.

Their recollections about the “school lunch lady” probably aren’t any better, either.

But most of the alumni from The Prairie School have entirely different — and much more favorable — memories about the crew that nourished them throughout their formative years, including Carol Malik, 70, who has worked in Prairie’s kitchen for 36 years.

“I started on the dishwashing machines, then I was a cook, then I got into baking and I did most of the baking for many years. Breads, cakes, cookies — all of that,” Carol says.

THE ORIGINS OF THOSE FAMOUS CINNAMON ROLLS Though she is now working only part-time and is on the verge of retirement, Carol started her school-lunch career in a totally different era, 36 years ago, when recipes and meals for students were based upon rations of government commodities like flour, sugar and butter — not federal nutrition guidelines. Those rations, she says, were the impetus behind the creation of the now-famous cinnamon roll recipe.

“It was a good way to get rid of the government commodities, to show we were using them. The cinnamon rolls also counted as a required bread serving,” Carol explains. It took about 40 pounds of flour to make 625 rolls — enough to feed Prairie students, faculty and staff for one day.

The recipe was developed by Dorothy Dykstra, who ran the kitchen for many years, and who Carol considered a friend, mentor and mother figure. Carol continued to make many of Dykstra’s recipes after Dykstra retired and later passed away in 2012.

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LOOKING BACK ON CHERISHED RELATIONSHIPS Carol has enjoyed interacting with and getting to know all of the students and teachers during her tenure at Prairie School.

“It’s thrilling now to see second generations of Prairie School students,” Carol says. “I’m so glad to have known them all.”

Carol says she’ll always cherish the relationships she’s developed with both students and faculty members.

Even though she’ll miss them in retirement, she’s looking forward to continuing those relationships over email and through letters.

These days, students get only one dessert a week, per the school dietician’s orders, so Carol actually hadn’t made the cinnamon rolls since she moved to part-time five years ago — until they were brought back at the request of the class of 2014 for a graduation supper last year.

GET ‘EM WHILE THEY’RE HOT, ONE DAY ONLY We hope you’ll join us for Carol’s cinnamon rolls at the Alumni Reunion Weekend brunch June 6!

Visit prairieschool.com/alumni for details.

Even if you miss the brunch, you can still get the recipe! The Prairie community’s love for many of Carol’s recipes has also spurred the creation of a fundraiser cookbook featuring the cinnamon rolls recipe as well as other favorite bakery items, like chocolate chip cookies and Italian bread. The book will be for sale during the Alumni Reunion Weekend, and proceeds will go toward a scholarship fund.

The process of compiling recipes has been heartwarming, Carol says — between email and social media, she has been in touch with hundreds of former students. “It’s just touching that so many students still remember me,” she says.

Carol Malik (left) says she can’t take full credit for Prairie’s cherished cinnamon roll recipe because she got it from mentor and friend, Dorothy Dykstra.

Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal

PUSHING BEYOND ‘GOOD ENOUGH’ TO PURSUE GREATNESS

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here is a difference between receiving an A and reaching your full potential.

Just ask Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal ’91, who says that is one of the most important lessons he learned during his years at The Prairie School. This lesson came from beloved teacher Gerald Buck, who taught science at Prairie for 23 years before retiring in 2002, and who, sadly, passed away March 6, 2015.

Dhaliwal graduated and went on to earn an undergraduate degree in economics and a medical degree from Northwestern University. Now a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and a staff physician in the inpatient wards and emergency department of the San Francisco V.A. Medical Center, Dhaliwal is known as one of the most skillful clinical diagnosticians in medicine.

“For the past decade, my academic focus has been on how doctors can sharpen their minds to make better diagnostic and management decisions for their patients,” he says. “And it links back to what Mr. Buck told me — that there’s a difference between being good enough and being great.”

APPRECIATIVE OF TEACHERS, CURRICULUM As a medical educator whose career is focused on helping students reach their fullest potentials, Dhaliwal has a special appreciation for the exceptional teachers and challenging curriculum at Prairie.

“Now that I’m a teacher, I’ve taken stock of what some of my best teachers did back then,” he says. From Mr. Buck’s infectious love of science to Coach Harold Swanson’s tireless dedication to his students’ development as athletes,

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scholars and human beings, Dhaliwal still appreciates the efforts of many of his teachers.

Prairie’s commitment to a comprehensive education allowed Dhaliwal to study almost anything that piqued his interest, from Spanish to photography to auto mechanics.

He is also grateful for being put on stage for plays, speeches and musical performances — and remembers feeling motivated to do better after a particularly awkward speech given at an interim assembly as a freshman.

“In my current job, I regularly speak to audiences. I am so glad I got to work out the major kinks and learn the hard lessons back then,” Dhaliwal says.

CONTINUE TO STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE Dhaliwal’s advice for other Prairie students and graduates is a continuation of what he learned during his formative years there: “Strive for excellence. The field of study or occupation you choose is driven by a combination of interest, aptitude, and pragmatism. But once you make your choice, even if it’s the simple stepping stone rather than a final destination, you should have no other goal than to pursue excellence.”

Q. A.

What are some of your fondest Prairie School memories?

Learning how to tie my shoes from Mrs. Campbell; how Mrs. Heyer used to pull out our loose teeth; Mrs. Poorman teaching me how to write as neatly as she did; playing dodgeball and kickball in the lower school gym; class trips to Missouri and Washington, D.C., in middle school; and tennis with Coach Swanson 365 days a year (yes, holidays included).

Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal lives in San Francisco with wife, Dr. Ritu Patel, who is a pediatric hospitalist, and their two boys Niraj, 10, and Tejbir, 8. The family gets back to Wisconsin every summer and winter to visit his parents, Dr. Kulwant Dhaliwal and Dr. Amrit Dhaliwal, who work as allergists in Racine and Kenosha.

Gabbi Ortiz

A LEADER ON THE COURT AND IN THE CLASSROOM

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hen the University of Oklahoma Sooners women’s basketball team takes the court again next season, the players will know they can count on point guard and The Prairie School alumni, Gabbi Ortiz ’14, to lead the plays.

Ortiz was a standout player while at Prairie, becoming the school’s first girl’s basketball player to reach the 1,000-point mark in scoring as a junior. She continued her leadership as a senior and followed it up with a fantastic freshman year at OU. Although she has only one year of college basketball experience, Ortiz has once again established herself as a leader on the court.

In early 2015, OU’s number 21 was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year. She helped lead her Sooners to the second round of the NCAA Championship Tournament and credits Prairie as a source of her success.

BALANCING ACADEMICS WITH ATHLETICS Managing the student-athlete workload is often overwhelming and a challenge for many students — especially freshmen. But she explains her years at Prairie prepared her well. In fact, during her first semester at OU, she earned a 4.0 grade point average and made the presidential honor roll.

“Prairie School taught me how to manage my time and be diligent with my work,” she says. “It was there that I learned how to manage both school and sports at the same time.”

“My experience at Prairie helps me lead on the court with determination and competitive fire,” she says.

After graduating in 2014, Gabbi Ortiz found her new academic and athletic home at the University of Oklahoma.

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FINDING A MENTOR Learning from teachers who are passionate about education also helped shape her whole person, she says.

“Mrs. [Bonnie] Benes was my seventh and eighth grade advisor and is very dear to my heart. She was one of the first people I met before I started at Prairie and she made sure I had a comfortable transition. There is no one better at her job and she will forever be a friend and an influential person in my life,” she says.

When Ortiz and her father, Shawn, initially visited Prairie, he says it was their meeting with Benes that made it clear Prairie was the right place for his daughter. Gabbi Ortiz started at Prairie as a sixth-grader.

“Mrs. Benes goes above and beyond with each and every student,” says Shawn Ortiz. “That’s something you don’t see every day.”

FOND MEMORIES AND LEARNING EXPERIENCES Gabbi Ortiz fondly remembers her days at Prairie, especially homecoming week and the basketball team’s senior night. She also recalls her Interim at Athletic Republic Performance Sports Training as an exceptional learning experience. She worked in the office and training facility of the center.

“Interim gives students an opportunity to go out into the work field and see what they like and dislike,” she says. “Even though I’m not sure what career I’ll go into yet, my experience allowed me to see how a business works and what it’s like to work a regular job.”

Gabbi Ortiz values the leadership skills she learned at Prairie and says they have helped her be better prepared to work well with others and make smart decisions. She encourages current Prairie students to take advantage of the high school experience.

“Take every year as seriously as the next,” she advises.

“Allow yourself to grow and learn every day.”

Featured Faculty: David Drewek

BUILDING PRAIRIE’S ART DEPARTMENT FROM THE GROUND UP

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hen The Prairie School alumni are asked about influential teachers, David Drewek’s name comes up often. One of Prairie’s first hires, Mr. Drewek saw the school grow throughout the years and guided many students along the way.

He began working at Prairie in 1965 as the school’s first art department chairman — in what was then a one-person art department.

“To get the job at Prairie was spectacular,” Mr. Drewek says.

“I knew the school was going to have a great art department since the Johnson Family was so interested in the arts.”

Because he was with Prairie from the start, Mr. Drewek had a hand in the creation of the 5,000-square-foot arts center designed by renowned architect and Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice, Charles Montooth.

The state-of-the-art facility, coupled with Mr. Drewek’s leadership, fueled the art curriculum’s significant growth over the years. The school started with typical arts offerings, such as drawing and painting, but soon offered pottery, metal casting, jewelry, and photography. To this day, Prairie is still a leader in arts education and is one of very few schools in the country to offer glassblowing, a favorite art activity among students.

PIONEERING THE VISITING ARTIST PROGRAM Mr. Drewek also developed the school’s Visiting Artist Program. Through the program, professional artists are invited to set up their own working studio in Prairie’s art department.

In return, at the end of their term, each artist is required to leave a piece of art they created. Over the years, Prairie has acquired a large collection of pieces from the artists-in-residence. These pieces are now on display throughout the school.

“Although the artists in the program are not required to teach, most end up teaching students because they enjoy sharing their knowledge,” Mr. Drewek says.

His influence on students extended beyond the art department. He was the yearbook faculty advisor for most of his years at Prairie. Under his leadership, “Etcetera” was a popular activity for students.

“Yearbooks are an important part of any school and being involved with the creation of one teaches students leadership skills they can use throughout life,” he says.

Former student and nationally recognized artist, Bill Reid ’73, took several art classes with Drewek during his Prairie days, including painting, design, drawing and aluminum casting.

Mr. Drewek’s support of Prairie even included sending his own children to the school from preschool through 12th grade.

“Mr. Drewek had a magical ability to make you feel comfortable and welcome, and I think we all knew he could be trusted to be an adult friend — no small thing when you are in high school,” says Reid, who creates brightly painted metal sculptures and is the current artist-in-residence at Prairie.

“They constantly praise the education they received at Prairie and I’m very proud and so grateful for the education they received at my school,” he says.

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ENJOYING A QUIET RETIREMENT These days, Mr. Drewek is enjoying retirement on a Vermont mountain top with his wife, Mary, three dogs, a turtle and a dozen chickens. He fills his time painting and walking the trails near his home. Although his life is a lot different now, he fondly remembers his time at Prairie.

“The best years of my life were spent teaching at Prairie,” he says. “I can’t imagine having a better career and I’m proud to say I had the privilege of teaching some very fine students.

Occasionally I get a letter or email from a former student and I’m always honored and grateful for their generous compliments regarding their years in the Prairie art program.”

Reunite with Mr. Drewek at Prairie School’s Alumni Reunion Weekend and 50th Anniversary Celebration June 4-7. To learn more about the weekend events and to RSVP, visit prairieschool.com/alumni.

“The best years of my life were spent teaching at Prairie. I can’t imagine having a better career.”

– david drewek

Featured Faculty: Pat Badger

TEACHERS CHANGE LIVES; SOMETIMES TEACHERS’ LIVES CHANGE TOO

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n 1971, with a degree in music education, a graduate degree in trumpet performance, and no teaching experience, Ms. Pat Badger found her way to The Prairie School and began her lifelong career.

Ms. Badger, who is from Frank Lloyd Wright territory — Oak Park, Ill. — says, “The thing that attracted me to Prairie was that it was an exciting, young, new school that seemed open to innovation.”

Since then, she’s worked with countless Prairie students, teaching instrumental and choral music, music theory, a social studies elective, and Interim courses. She became head of the department in the late 1970s. Many students also got the opportunity to interact with Ms. Badger through her production of plays, musicals and concerts put on by various performing arts groups over the years.

Ryan Navratil ’99, who was in choir, band, theater and who played in the pit orchestra for productions, remembers Ms. Badger’s kind, nurturing nature and the environment she created in which students were free to attempt, fail, and try again.

“Looking back, I notice the subtle ways in which she picked up on our small talents and then found ways to coax them out, often uncovering skills and personalities that we may not have known were under the surface,” Navratil says.

Her classroom was a home for creative experimentation, he says, and her teaching method focused on guiding and developing talents. “I’m always willing to follow a thread of inspiration, regardless of how ridiculous it might end up,” Navratil says.

“That feeling of self-trust is owed in no small part to my experiences in Ms. Badger’s music laboratory.”

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TEACHING THE TEACHER While alumni may praise their former teacher and show appreciation for her influence on their lives, the reverse is also true, she says. “The paradox of teaching is that our students touch our lives and change us as teachers,” she says. “I like to say that my students are my most profound teachers. They make me see things I haven’t thought about or been aware of. They make me acknowledge voices I’ve never listened to before.”

Not many schools are a work of art — but Prairie is, and learning and teaching in a work of art every day for years is bound to affect its inhabitants. Prairie’s unique architecture, and its curving hallways, are in many ways symbolic of life, she observes.

“The design itself has an effect on the pace of our movement, the kind of conversation we have, how we interact with each other,” Ms. Badger says.

“When you don’t have straight halls, you never know what’s around the bend. You never know who’s coming towards you. I think that’s a really interesting metaphor for learning and living: we have to adapt and relate to each other in new, unexpected ways.”

LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE Ms. Badger recalls a turning point in her life: in the ’90s, she agreed to drive a guest speaker to an independent school conference. “Her name was Peggy McIntosh, and my job was to transport her in my car. But she’s the one who ended up transporting me — as we were driving, she gave me a tutorial on something that changed my life,” she says.

Ms. Badger was introduced to The SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum, an organization with the goal of creating genderfair, multi-culturally equitable, socioeconomically aware and globally informed education. She attended training, which taught her to re-evaluate how she saw the world and related to others, and gave her a new perspective relating to issues including racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism, antiSemitism and ableism.

To Ms. Badger, the SEED Project’s goals fit in well with Prairie’s educational philosophy of teaching, and reaching, every child. “It’s also about empowering all the voices in the classroom, rather than just one or two,” she says.

Some teachers believe the key to educating is providing students with piles of materials and most of the answers. “What I’ve come to realize is that there are the books on the shelves, including the music and the how-to skills to unlock it, but there are also the stories of ourselves — stories that are so rich and make our experiences more complete,” she explains. “My SEED friend, Emily Style, says half the curriculum walks in the room when the students arrive.”

Empowering all students to have a voice is one of the ways to build a strong school community. “One of the things that makes us a very powerful community is how we relate to one another.

Prairie really does have a special sense of community,” she says.

“Teachers and students become attached to each other in very profound ways.”

Creative energy is important to maintain throughout life — and with the belief that arts teachers are better teachers when they continue to follow their passions, Ms. Badger has kept up her trumpet chops, freelancing and performing in local groups including the Racine Symphony.

CREATING LEADERS

It’s amazing to be on life’s journey, unfolding together with her students, says Ms. Badger. “When you teach and learn, the story never ends.”

Prairie School speaks to leadership in two important ways, Ms. Badger says. One is through encouraging student involvement in programs like Model U.N., Science Olympiad, robotics, music festivals, extracurricular clubs, student government and athletics.

The other is by teaching students to take up their authority in appropriate ways.

“We talk about being a leader of your own life. That might mean speaking up to take a class when a teacher didn’t recommend you for it, or it might be advocating for a point of view when it might not be a popular one, or asking a peer to stop some kind of inappropriate behavior, or making a speech on behalf of community action,” she says. “If you’re a leader of your own self, you give voice to yourself. Both kinds of leadership can unlock the rest of your life. If you can stand up for an organization or if you can stand up for yourself, then I say you’re going to have an inspired and impactful life.”

ENJOYING MOMENTS OF CREATIVE ENERGY While the end goal of a performing arts production is executing polished performances, Ms. Badger has a special affinity for the moments in which creative energy explodes and synergy starts to happen in a group of students. Living in the moment, and enjoying its creative magic, is a great way to appreciate the uniqueness that each person brings to a project or production, she says.

“In the middle of the process, when things are raw and imperfect and not finished — that’s the moment when things really begin to come together and create this amazing creative energy,” she says. “It’s so inspiring to be in the cauldron at that moment. Something that’s never happened before has ignited, and it’s special for all of us.”

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When you are a character in a play, when you sing a song, when you learn to play a piece of music, it’s forever. And no one can ever take it away from you. In some respects, it resonates and resounds in you for the rest of your life. As performing arts teachers we have the honor of opening those doors every day; what a gift!

– pat badger performing arts department chairperson

Dr. Todd Hoeksema

PRAIRIE SATISFIED SOLAR PHYSICIST’S LOVE OF LEARNING

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hen Dr. Todd Hoeksema ’74 graduated from The Prairie School, he wasn’t exactly sure what to focus his career studies on. “I grew up during the time when the space program was really big, so I’d always been interested in astronomy and science,” he says. “I was trying to decide between biology, chemistry and physics.” Hoeksema went on to earn a doctorate in applied physics from Stanford University, where he ran the school’s solar observatory. Today he is a leading solar physicist, studying the sun and heliosphere, or the region of space the sun influences, and director of Stanford’s Wilcox Solar Observatory.

Hoeksema attended Prairie for his last three years of high school and credits his Interim at Marquette University where he worked on a variety of projects, as the experience that taught him working in a lab was truly fun.

“One of the first experiences I had at Prairie was in biology class; we went outside to a stream and collected samples and started looking at all the creatures that were in the water. Nowadays it seems kind of tame, but at the time it was pretty radical to go out and do something like that,” he says.

Going to school at Prairie taught Hoeksema some valuable life lessons, including the realization that how well you did in school would have future consequences. “[Former headmaster] Mr. Mitchell was always pushing people forward and recognizing people and encouraging them,” he says. “There was a strong push to excel, but also to recognize people — not just me but everyone else, too. That gave us a lot of confidence. You realized there were things you could do that you never would have thought you could.”

Another formative lesson was to try things in which you may not have much interest or skill. He remembers taking an art class, and realizing that the subject just didn’t resonate with him.

That lesson had a more positive outcome in music class with Ms. Badger, where Hoeksema’s class built a harpsichord from a kit. That memory, along with taking a senior class trip to a lake in northern Wisconsin, are among Hoeksema’s favorite from his time at Prairie.

“The idea of being a well-rounded person is something I think Prairie brought out. It’s also something that, when you’re applying to schools, is important,” he says.

At Prairie School and in his career, Hoeksema has valued truly learning (not just memorizing) and being challenged. Though Hoeksema rarely makes it back to the Racine area these days, Prairie alum may see his name in scientific articles about the sun, or catch a glimpse of him as a guest expert on TV shows such as NASA’s Unexplained Files.

Class Notes —

1970s

Kevin Kranen ’77 lives in Menlo Park, CA, with his wife, Kathryn, and their children Kyle and Kayla. He is the director of strategic alliances at Synopsys, the largest supplier of electronic design automation (EDA) software. [A] Tom Proost ’77 is a production designer living in the Bay Area. He’s worked on films such as Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas and the Matrix.

Mia (Mary) Keyes ’78 married Tom Proost ’77 and has served as the copy manager for NikeStore.com. She has two daughters, Oona and India Jane, and works as a freelancer for Levi’s, World Market and Williams-Sonoma.

1980s

Karen Gorton ’82 earned her doctorate in nursing in 2010 and is the assistant dean for undergraduate programs for the College of Nursing at University of Northern Colorado.

Amanda Cosgrove Paffrath ’85 owns two businesses in downtown Racine.

She graduated from UW-Madison in 1989 and currently lives with her husband Mark Paffrath ’70 and children, Wes and Nohra. [B] Paula Chudd ’88 received her master’s degree in 2012 and recently completed her second master’s degree in education and special education. She lives in Portland, OR, with her husband where she teaches in Portland Public Schools.

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1990s

Andrew Chudd ’93 lives in Seattle, WA where he is a senior software developer for Amazon.com’s Appstore for Android.

He also owns Andrew Paris Software and develops iPhone and Android apps and most recently launched Find Me Alert, a family safety mobile application.

Kelley Williams ’94 was honored recently by the United Way of Greater Milwaukee as an Emerging Leader.

He is an integration leader at HarleyDavidson Motor Company and recently started the Williams Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to mentor youth and help with college planning.

Andrew Isaacson ’95 produced content for The Famous Group’s ninth consecutive Super Bowl and was involved with the Together We Make Super Bowl campaign.

He also recently produced the entire content package for the Milwaukee Bucks game day presentation. [C] Benjamin Isaacson ’96 works in the Business Process Technology department at SC Johnson in Racine. He set his marathon personal best in Kenosha last spring and has four children.

Michael Borzynski ’99 and Shay Boero Borzynski ’00 and their three sons Joe (4), Prairie School first-grader Jack (6) and Jordan (2) traveled to New Orleans for vacation. [X]

2000s

Kristen Pichelman Dembroski, Ph.D. ’00 earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Wisconsin, a master’s degree in education from the University of Michigan and a doctorate in language and literacy from Cardinal

Stritch University. She is the reading specialist and eighth grade language arts teacher at Whitnall Middle School in Greenfield. [D] Nathan Miller ’00 is a computer technician for the Air National Guard. He earned his degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and two years ago started Wisco Stone, a natural stone fabrication company.

Julie Kollwelter ’01 owns a 500-acre dairy farm in Whitewater. The herd average is more than 40,000 pounds, the highest in the state.

Chris Martinez ’02 is the co-founder of a technology startup company called Glow.

Casey Rockwood ’02 is a social worker for Monterey County, CA, and is earning his master’s degree at California State University. Previously he served in the Peace Corps in El Salvador and also worked for Peacock Acres, a non-profit residential program for foster youth.

Jesse Geiken ’03 is a canine handler for the Rockford Police Department in Rockford, IL. He has worked for the department for seven years and been a member of the K-9 unit for the past three. His partner is a young German shepherd named Murph. [E] Ari Hagopian ’03 majored in marketing at Loyola University in Chicago where he also played soccer. He is a personal trainer at Fitness Formula Club.

Christian Hansen ’03 is a professional painter and owns his own company, CHansen Painting, in Racine.

Adam Paluka ’03, a former TV news reporter, is the community relations and social media manager for the Oklahoma Emergency Medical Services Authority, the ambulance provider for metro Tulsa and Oklahoma City. He also serves on the board and communications committees of several Tulsa non-profit organizations.

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Jeremy Schiele ’03 works for LSI Solutions in Victor, NY. Rebeccah Steffensen Schmidt ’03, who teaches in the Kettle Moraine School District, was featured in Wisconsin STEM Pathways for the project-based work she is doing with her students in her Project Lead the Way biomedical sciences course.

Erin Anne MacDonald ’04 is an actress, writer, and producer based in Manhattan, NY. [F] Katy Peterson ’04 earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from UW-Madison and her doctorate of chiropractics from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, IA. She currently works at Elmwood Plaza Chiropractic in Racine.

Benno Rothschild ’04 co-founded a nonprofit organization, Gujja Ting African Art, just over a year ago to empower children and youth through art and dance workshops. He also recently started a coffee company, Benno Makes in Baltimore, MD. [G] Natalia Sanchez ’04 graduated from the University of Minnesota orthodontic residency program in June 2014 and is an orthodontist in Connecticut.

Class Notes —

Liz Steffensen ’04 graduated in 2013 with a doctorate in voice performance from the University of Minnesota and performs as an opera singer.

Polly Veltcheva ’04 received her master’s degree from University of Texas at Austin in theatrical design. She is currently working in costumes for film and TV in Los Angeles.

Page Benkowski ’05 received her master’s degree in contemporary art practice from University of Edinburgh where she was awarded the university’s Andrew Grant Fellowship and was named a top emerging artist by Axisweb.

Mara Hagopian ’05 graduated from Lawrence University in 2009 with majors in studio art and art history and a certification to teach K-12 art. She currently lives in the Twin Cities where she develops world-wide distributions systems with Reliv International, is a Customer Experience Lead at Athleta and teaches yoga.

Jamie Lieberman ’05 graduated from Officer Candidate School as a second lieutenant in the US Army. He played professional soccer in both the Major Indoor Soccer League and the Premier Arena Soccer League and is the CEO of his own athletic products company, PEGLIYL. He was recently hired as assistant soccer coach at UW-Whitewater.

Jessica Steig Korsmo ’05 earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from UW-Madison and teaches sixth grade science and reading in Marshall, WI.

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Emily Brown Reinholz ’06 graduated from UW-Madison and has taught music and band in Milwaukee for five years.

Erica Dederich Frye ’06 earned a post-baccalaureate teaching license from Cardinal Stritch University and teaches kindergarten at Hawthorne Elementary School in Madison, WI.

Steph Shelton ’06 is a family outreach worker at Dane County Parent Council in Madison, WI. Previously, she spent more than two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Kingdom of Tonga. [I] Katie Axelson ’07 is a writer and editor who spent 2014 on an 11-month Christian mission trip to 11 countries.

Jim Kettinger, Jr. ’06 works at Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services as an industrial real estate broker in southeastern Wisconsin and northeastern Illinois.

Jeff Frank ’07 graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 2012 with a degree in electrical engineering and a minor in physics. He works in the commercial division at The Toro Company.

Kyle Clark ’06 is the lead facilitator with Higher Expectations, a local community initiative focused on developing a cradle-to-career partnership to improve employment opportunities for Racine County youth.

Nico Hagopian ’07 graduated from DePaul University in 2011 with degrees in journalism and film production. He is a freelance grip and production assistant on commercial sets in Chicago.

Kara Mullikin ’06 works at Leo Burnett Chicago as a member of the firm’s new and innovative digital strategy team.

Katherine Neubauer ’06 recently started Neu Root Farm, an organic farm in Caledonia, WI. Lauren Parlin ’06 is a kindergarten teacher at a new school called Northeast College Prep, which is an IB charter school aimed at closing the achievement gap.

Bobby Schuessler ’06 is the senior fashion editor at WhoWhatWear, and splits his time between New York City and Los Angeles. [H]

Greta Iliev ’08 earned a bachelor’s degree from UW-Madison in December 2012 and moved to Washington, D.C., to attend law school at George Washington University.

Josef Lange ’08, who lives in Seattle, WA, is the lead developer for the Amazon WorkSpaces iPad app, having ascended to this role from his initial position as an operations engineer with Amazon Cloud Drive.

Sonia Pinero Lucci ’08 is a student at UW-Milwaukee working toward her doctorate in counseling psychology and teaching undergraduate students. [U] Melanie Schowalter ’08 is an oncology nurse at Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, IA. [V]

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Class Notes —

Mike Schuessler ’08 graduated from Marquette University in May 2012 and is currently working as a project manager for Mopro, a marketing company in Costa Mesa, CA. Tim Callaghan ’09 is a senior at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is finishing his required course work at Gateway College in Racine and working toward a welding certificate. [J] Melanie Carraro ’09 graduated Cum Laude from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

She works for Giramondo Viaggi, the largest travel franchise in Europe.

Kayla Iuliano ’09 earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from the University of Delaware and her master’s degree in environmental health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is now in a fellowship at the EPA, studying cancer prevention. Last summer, she made a two-month pilgrimage to Medjugorje, Bosnia, to help care for people there.

Stephanie Kreager ’09 graduated from the University of Illinois with honors and obtained a degree in political science and sociology along with a minor in global studies with a concentration in human rights and Farsi linguistics.

She is in her third semester at the UW-Madison Law School. [K] Liz Leffler ‘09 and Becky Leffler ’11 attended a medical mission trip through the organization “VIDA” to Central America where they worked alongside doctors to provide medical care. [L]

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2010s

Matt Adamczyk ’10 graduated from the University of Iowa, where he studied computer science and mathematics. He moved to Seattle, WA, with his fiancé, Abby Gaertig ’10, where he works as program manager in Microsoft’s Office division. [M] Laura Axelson Baker ’10 lives in Grand Rapids, MI, where she is a reading and math interventionist for third, fourth and fifth graders.

Carl Holborn ’10 graduated from UW-Madison in 2014 with a major in sociology and is now earning a master’s degree from Marquette University.

Connor Leipold ’10 lives in Washington, D.C., and is the game entertainment coordinator for the Washington Capitals (NHL). He manages the Capitals cheerleaders (the Red Rockers), a game night crew, and is responsible for all in-game promotions. [N] Kate Lieberman ’10 graduated from Michigan State University in 2014 with a major in advertising and works at Laughlin Constable in Milwaukee as a junior marketing analyst.

Greta Neubauer ’10 attends Middlebury College in Vermont where she is studying indigenous and social justice movement history and has worked with 350.org, an international company based in New York that focuses on climate in 188 countries. Last summer she worked for Climate Justice Alliance and Movement Generation. Her work was recently recognized on Policymic.com.

Mackenzie Naughton ’10 graduated Magna Cum Laude from Arizona State University where she studied communications and event management.

She lives in Scottsdale, AZ, where she is an account coordinator at Colling Media, a full-service advertising agency.

She is also an independent consultant for Rodan and Fields. [O] Jenny Craig ’11 is a junior at Occidental College in Los Angeles. She is captain of the Oxy Dance Team, a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, serves on the Greek Council and will serve as the executive director for an organization called Up ‘til Dawn.

Stephanie Schmidt ’11 is a communications major and leadership studies minor at St. Norbert College. She’s a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and spent a summer in a leader’s training course at Fort Knox, KY. [P] Alex Bathe ’12 was featured in SHE magazine for qualifying for the National Taekwondo team last year. She is currently studying pre-law at Marquette University.

Logan Ketterer ’12 was on the dean’s list at Bradley University. He is an accounting major and a goalie on the Bradley soccer team.

Katie Lafond ’12 has written a number of new songs and released a new project under the name Siren. She is involved in the hip-hop/soul community in Milwaukee. [Q] Zach Wilson ’12 owns ZW Makeup Effects, a special effects makeup and airbrush tattoo company. He is also co-owner of Acerbus Concepts.

WEDDINGS

Casey Rockwood ’02 married Jessica Taniguchi on June 29, 2013. [R] Jesse Geiken ’03 married Basia Bardzinka on May 24, 2014.

Jeremy Schiele ’03 married Erin Fredericks on July 28, 2012.

Lauren Wideburg True ’03 married Steve True on Sept. 22, 2012.

Jenni Johnson ’03 was the maid of honor while Adam Paluka ’03, Shelly Boero ’03, Melanie Schowalter ’08, Eric Wideburg ’05 and Michael Wideburg ’07 were members of the wedding party. [S] Natalia Sanchez ’04 married Walter Menjivar on May 22, 2012.

Dr. Liz Steffensen ’04 married Ryan Mattsen on Aug. 17, 2013.

Erica Dederich Frye ’06 married Christopher Frye in August 2012. [T] Josef Lange ’08 married Kate Hall on Aug. 18, 2012.

Sonia Pinero Lucci ’08 married Matthew Lucci on June 29, 2014. [U] Melanie Schowalter ’08 married Eric Wideburg ’05 in June 2012. [V] Laura Axelson Baker ’10 married Zach Baker on June 28, 2014. [W]

BIRTHS

Jenelle and Benjamin Isaacson ’96 Twins Selah and Timothy – March 5, 2015 Nicholas and Erica Nielsen Okamura ’99 Felix Akira – April 2013 Jarrod and Julie Kollwelter ’01 Jaclyn – May 29, 2014 Toby Gwiazdowski ’02 and Angela Miceli-Gwiazdowski Sofia Rose – March 3, 2013 Twins Emelia and Elena – March 27, 2015 Lara and Chris Martinez ’02 Charles – September 26, 2015 Jessica and Casey Rockwood ’02 Ayla Jean – July 30, 2014 Rebeccah Steffensen Schmidt ’03 and Matt Schmidt, Sarah – May 8, 2014

STAY IN TOUCH AND SHARE YOUR NEWS

You, The Prairie School alumni, are an inspiration to all of us. We would love to hear from you!

Share your special news with us, whether it is a new job, a promotion, a special award you have received or some other accomplishment — we would love to hear it and share it with others.

Please take a minute to fill us in on what is happening in your life so we can print it in the Class Notes section of our alumni publication. Items of interest include: • A degree earned • A move to a new city • A marriage (please include exact wedding date and the full name of your new spouse) • A new family member (please include child’s full name and date of birth) • An honor received • Your volunteer work • Other news about you or your accomplishments Class Notes are published as space permits. The editors of this magazine reserve the right to revise and rewrite items for content and length.

Update your address, phone number, email address, profession, family information and anything else you would like to share. To do so, email jhagopian@prairieschool.com or use the Update Your Information form in the Alumni section of our website.

We Remember

SWANSON WAS ONE IN A MILLION

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lumni will remember Dr. Thor David Swanson ’83 as a classmate and treasured friend. He was a true warrior, a pleasant and kind man and one in a million.

Swanson, 49, died March 7 in Sioux City, Iowa, after a four-year battle with osteosarcoma cancer. Swanson enjoyed playing tennis, attending family music events and vacationing at Lake Okoboji. He studied theology at various seminaries and schools of divinity around the country before becoming a pastor. He was the associate pastor at Friendship Community Church in Sergeant Bluff at the time of his passing.

In addition, he was also a staff physician and HIV director at Siouxland Community Health Center in Sioux City and the chairman of the ethics committees at both Mercy Medical Center and Unity Point-St. Luke’s Hospital in Sioux City.

Swanson attended medical school in Milwaukee and completed his residency in Sioux City. He also pursued bio-ethical studies at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill., and Loyola University in Chicago. He was a family physician, but later

MAY THEY REST IN PEACE We extend our sincere sympathies to the families of the following alumni who have passed away.

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John T. Bruton ‘71 Andrea Kristi Keland ’71 Bruce H. Mitchell ’71 Frederick H. Bultman ’72 Ilene F. Levin ’72 Andrew Harcus ’74 Matthew Lamphear ’74 Timothy Hielscher ’75

became board-certified in HIV medicine, tropical medicine, travel medicine, pain medicine, and addiction medicine.

Besides spending two years as a medical missionary in Kijabe Kenya, where he lived with Karin, his wife of 22 years and their daughters, Trina (17), Kari (15), and Johanna (11), Swanson also did shorter overseas medical mission stints in Nepal, Tanzania, and Honduras. Over his career, Swanson had a special interest in training residents and medical trainees of all types, relishing the chance to introduce them to the medical care of the marginalized.

Swanson was a former collegiate tennis player, a lifelong genealogy enthusiast, a proud stockowner of the Green Bay Packers, and a committed reader and book collector. For the last two decades, his life’s mission statement was the early anonymous Quaker proverb, “As we go through life, let us do as much good as we can, for we pass this way but once.”

Dorothy Feest ’76 Mary Jane Schell ’78 Jay Porter ’79 Ed Heck ’80 Michael Quicker ’80 Thomas Wood Moll ’82 Ann Carter Vos ’82 Richard C. Dow ’83

Dr. Thor D. Swanson ’83 Maria Windh-Lind ’85 Derek Schultz ’89 Jeni Waldron ’90 Heather L. Webster ’97 Jessica Chapman ’02 Aleksas J. Trotter ’04 Brandon Zimmerman ’04

The Last Word

ASK MOE, THE PRAIRIE HAWK —

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e see him at sporting events and pep rallies. His profile is emblazoned in the middle of the fieldhouse floor. He’s Moe, our very own prairie hawk, the school’s biggest fan and the personification of school spirit. And now in this new question and answer forum, he’s ready to answer all The Prairie School questions you always wanted to ask, but never did. Since you haven’t been able to submit any questions yet, we thought we’d start off with an interview to help you get to know Moe.

When did you land at The Prairie School?

Moe: 50 years ago. Been shakin’ my tail feathers ever since.

When is your birthday?

Moe: Believe it or not, it’s the same as Sam Johnson: March 2, 1928. But I’ve been told I’m young at heart.

What’s your favorite sport?

Moe: I can’t just pick one.

Basketball and tennis for sure, but also all the other WIAA division 4 sports in which we compete: baseball, cross country, golf, soccer, track & field and volleyball.

What is your favorite dance move?

Moe: I can’t reveal all my secrets.

What I can say, however, is that my moves are on point. It’s yet another reason to come back to campus for a home game.

Favorite foods?

Moe: I’m a bird of eclectic tastes, but one item that tops my list: cinnamon rolls.

Biggest regret?

Moe: Turning down the Discovery Channel. Woohoo! Shark Week, big deal.

What’s your shoe size and do you even own a blue blazer?

Moe: No comment.

Favorite English theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author?

Moe: Stephen Hawking, of course.

What do you love most about The Prairie School?

Moe: The Prairie School is my family; there’s a genuine sense of community. Everyone here is accepted, valued and encouraged to be the best version of themselves they can be.

Favorite architects?

If you can’t guess, they are Charles Montooth and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Were the birds in Hitchcock’s movie by the same name really villains, or were they just misunderstood?

Moe: Alfred and I had a falling out.

He was a good friend, then he made that movie and we haven’t spoken since. I really don’t care much for Poe either.

How can we get as much school spirit as you?

Moe: That would be unlikely, but I do encourage you to check out the online store on the athletics page of our website. We have options for Hawks of all sizes.

Now it’s your turn. Email your school-related questions — such as: What is the measurement of the curve along the JAC roofline? What’s your average ACT score? How many climbing rocks are there in the Primary School gym? — directly to Moe at AskMoeQuestions@gmail.com and he might answer yours in the next issue.

See you in September.

4050 Lighthouse Drive Racine, WI 53402

DISCLAIMER: As always, we appreciate hearing from you and welcome your input, contributions, comments and suggestions. Please email the school or send your feedback to us at jhagopian@prairieschool.com PRAIRIE is published two times per year and is offered free of charge to alumni, courtesy of The Prairie School. Information in this publication is presented in good faith. Although copyright is vested with The Prairie School, permission is granted for the contents of PRAIRIE to be reproduced for noncommercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged.

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